Daily Podcast #12

Source 🎧

How AI can bridge the Deaf and hearing worlds | Adam Munder
- TED Tech (TED Audio Collective)

Sentences ✍️

1. This isn’t just a story about inconvenience. It’s a story about dignity, about access, and about the fundamental human need to be understood.
   • dignity: calm, serious, and controlled behaviour that makes people respect you
   • New sentence: She accepted the award with quiet dignity and grace.
2. So I had to write back and forth with the receptionist at the front desk.
   • back and forth: moving first in one direction and then in the opposite one
   • New sentence: The kids kept running back and forth across the playground.
3. So could you imagine going to the doctor’s appointment and being told by the doctor that your seven-year-old is going to relay the information to you?
   • relay: To pass on information or a message from one person to another.
   • New sentence: He relayed the manager’s instructions to the rest of the team.

Summarization 👀

Adam Munder, a deaf engineer and entrepreneur, shares the daily challenges faced by millions of deaf individuals due to communication barriers in a hearing-centered world. Even simple tasks like ordering coffee or going to the doctor can become isolating and frustrating without proper interpretation support.

Adam recalls a painful experience when a doctor asked his 7-year-old daughter to interpret during a medical visit. He explains how he constantly shifts between two worlds: one where he manages family, real estate, and small business interactions with minimal communication tools, and another in his professional life where he relies heavily on qualified interpreters to compete equally.

However, interpreters are expensive and scarce—especially in places like Arizona, where over a million people with hearing loss are served by only around 400 licensed interpreters. This scarcity forces many into “survival mode” communication using text or pen and paper, which lacks the nuance of American Sign Language (ASL).

To solve this, Adam created OmniBridge, an AI-powered platform that translates ASL into English in real time. By using advanced computing on AI PCs, the tool runs locally and increases accessibility without internet reliance.

Adam emphasizes that this innovation isn’t just about convenience—it’s about restoring dignity, improving access, and building true human connection between the deaf and hearing communities. Through AI, OmniBridge is helping to level the playing field and redefine inclusion in communication.